To label Vanessa Compton’s artwork as “collage” may at first cause some people to erroneously imagine the sorts of projects done by weekend crafters. One look at The Lives of Man, however, quickly puts such preconceptions to rest. At more than 3 feet wide and...
In one of America’s most spectacular holiday displays, the Mission Inn presents its annual Festival of Lights for six weeks starting the day after Thanksgiving. More than four million electric bulbs decorate the square-block property in an extravaganza that includes upwards of 400 animated figures,...
Susan Kates, my favorite English professor at the University of Oklahoma, had just moved to the state from the Midwest when I was her student in the 1990s. I admired the way she embraced her new home. Often, she wore cowboy boots to class and...
Carved Chipped Chest by Anthony E. Martinez The landscape depicted in popular paintings of Northern New Mexico is where Anthony E. Martinez grew up, with a knife in his pocket, roaming the bosques, whittling wood. Living around carpinteros creating furnishings, combined with his childhood experiences, inspired...
Matt Fajkus doesn’t recall any “aha” moments on his path to architecture. Similarly, he can’t point to specific designers who inspired his career choice. But the founder of the award-winning Matt Fajkus Architecture does remember road trips across Texas with his parents, and being fascinated...
Friends called her Beck or Becky. She dressed in traditional Western garb — denim breeches, boots, and kerchiefs — and topped her mane of prematurely silver hair with felt hats. An ever-present cigarette dangled from her lips. Her face, sometimes embellished with bright red lipstick,...
In an area of mostly single-story adobe houses in Taos, New Mexico, Thom “Tex” Wheeler’s home and studio is an architectural anomaly. Visitors drive through an arched entry gate with a weathered wooden sign declaring “Happy Trails,” and they are indeed about to embark on...
When Brett Allen Johnson received the Victor Higgins Work of Distinction Award at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art’s Quest for the West Art Show and Sale in September 2021, more than the undeniable quality of his three paintings set him apart....
A personal art collection is full of stories. I was reminded of this fact recently while unpacking a box of keepsakes from my parents’ garage, in which I had squirreled away magazine clippings of artworks I liked when I was in high school: a Richard...
Having grown up surrounded by the lush Hawaiian outdoors and her mother’s vibrant watercolor paintings, Jenni Leasia’s natural inclination to improve people’s environments informs her design aesthetic. “My Hawaiian childhood instilled the importance of connecting indoor and outdoor spaces, which is a huge part of...